The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-11-27

IOOLn, more Lndn Inc eultOri manage
this business and say what it mus
lpubfish, and Business, with big B
does not suffer in any line from an ex.
papers publish news that is uni
for family reading, and gooc
business men, strictly III the way
of business, sell goods unfit for use
Wise men lift up their voices and cra
aloud against the health destroying
corset, and good business men go righ
on, not only selling them, but adver-
Using them at great expense, persuad-
| ing women to wear them. The news
papers loudly protest against the
merciless slaughter of our beautiful
song-birds, and our Sunday congrega
tons and to some extent. oul
BAPTIST Congress, is radiant with
the plumage of the slaugh-
tered innocents, butchered i'll
the way of business. The honest
merchant, whose word is as good as bis
| bond, nevertheless sells Atwood shirts
that shrink up into mere short sleeved
bandages, adulterated medicines slate
stricken coal and fishing tackle that
will be used on Sunday. As gatherer
and distributor of news, the press con-
ducts its business on accepted business
principles. II sell what the iohber
sends me-" says the retailer. Ny
goods are up to sample" says the job
Der, land sell just what the mahufac-
turer supplies me" And l make what
SELLS" says the manufacturer. Il"
says the editor, print what. the Asso-
cisted Press sends and the reporters
bring i'm And l." says the
reporter, "send in what happens;
7 T. h. h - -.
- unless it is very dull day. He
may manufacture an interview occa-
slonally, but an interview is never news
says the world, you mustn't print ev-
erything we do" Then" replies the
editor, you must quit doing it. Go
slow. Run your mandatory on
shorter time and make better goods"
But it should give the news
straight" 1t should not, as it has no
right to, distort and garble, and mis-
represent. A Democratic speech should
read IS fairly in Republican type as
should q Republican speech in Demo-
cratic columns. And usually it does
Or, rather, it reads as unfairly. But
you catch my meaning. The great
function OF the newspaper is to tell the
news truthfully; to report the worlds
doings honestly. rhe newspaper that
its bitterest opponent
weakens its own influence and Injuries
its own cause. Must it, then, only tell
the news, without COMMENT On, no.
The primary functions of the news
paper, of course, is to print the news.
What is the first thing you do when
you pick up your daily papers? You
turn to the telegraph page and read
the headlines. You want to know what
has happened. Then "she" turns to
the marriages and "teaths," and
Tou look at the editorials. Because
here is another important function of
the press. You have read what hap
pened; now you want to know what |
me editor thinks about it. For the |
newspaper has grown to be a teacher |
The editor, deVoting his life and talent |
% the work of distributing information |
# current events, grows into the habit |
md acquires the right of saying some |
hing ABOUT it. It Is his night. When |
! newspaper sends reporter into the |
wilderness to discover q lost explorer,
nd follow the Congo from fountain |
lead to the sea, shall he not preach |
rom the text he has discovered? When |
{ detects fraud, unearths viilainy, eI-
1OoCo 1hSCdl1tyf hucb IL D0
nth furnishing text, while the rest of |
Is develop it and preach the sermons? |
The newspapers can not help teach
ng. If it had never an editorial, still |
would teach in its news columns, and |
+ would impress upon US the editors
Jews and opinions. Noah Webster
ought the newspaper as an ally of the
dictionary. To the country offices he
rent, laying upon the case of the COM
ositor little list of printed words.
Ny boy" he said to printer, when
on come across any of these words IL
opy, spell them as you see them
PEELED here" The first time Constant
seadeT" saw the new spelling in print
q stared at 1t, but thought it q typo
raDhicsl error. The next time be
'rote to the editor calling attention to
be glsring inaccuracy. The editor
e6antly referred him to the dictionary
nd Constant Reader" looked rubbed
is eyes, put on his spectacles, read
gain, and was siienced, but not con-
inced. But the newspaper thrust the ,
ew spelling under his eyes day after !
ay, and soon he forgot that the word
ad ever been spelled differently.
How often do we see little six-line !!
ispatch made to mean just what the
esignlng correspondent did not want
TO mean, but the editor did, not by a | I
Ibored editorial, but by q keen little {
ead-line7 How often the caustic
like counter-irritant, takes I
le sting out of al equally caustic par I
graph7
This was the evolution Of the news
sper. 1t began as a mere bulletin {
bard: it grew into teacher. 1t be-
1me the public voice. "Old Sub 9
,riber,p Constant Reader" Tax I
aysr," Citizen" ana ali the rest,
;ores and hundreds Of good men who
ad something to say. but couldn't get !
lybody to listen, and who were unable )
hire haul, found an audience and q
'strum ready for them, and rushed
to anonymous publicity with their l
ants. their aims, their suggestions and c
,mplaints. The newspaper caught the c
'Dtagion, and began to teach and to
each. It sifted the mass of news LAID I
the doors of the sauclum daily, and q
Id US briefly what it all meant. 1t as C
sts its readers In making deductions
ON events; in forming their judg- .
ent. If the editor does not or can not :
, this, why is he an editori As well y
light some men go into drug store
I'd attempt to diagnose their own NAL
les, and make up from the bewiider- ]
4 IL 4